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DRAMA OF THE DECCAN: AURANGABAD, AJANTA AND ELLORA MARCH 21-23, 2024 Friday, March 21, 2024: Bombay-Aurangabad:

Aurangabad, Ajanta and Ellora have been on my mind ever since we returned from Mahabaleshwar when our driver Raju had mentioned that he often drives tourists to these venues. As we had Tadoba National Park planned for end-February, I decided to make the Deccan a part of our tour circuit in March. And so my planning began…Please join me on a bit of armchair-traveling in the heart of Maharashtra as we explore some of its most popular tourist venues.

Off and Away:

Our day began early. Knowing that it would be a good 7-8 hour drive from Bombay to our destination, Aurangabad, we arose with the lark, setting our alarms for 4.30 am for our 5.00 am departure. Our driver, Raju, was late and only turned up at 5.15. By the time we loaded our meagre bagpacks into the trunk of his car, it was 5.20. We set off without even a cup of coffee (hoping to pick up breakfast somewhere) while the rest of Bandra was still fast asleep. We flew down the roads and went past BKC, the new highways into Chembur and New Bombay before there was even the faintest glimmer of light in the Eastern sky.

Breakfast in Poona:

When the ghats began, somewhere around Lonavla, we began to feel the first of our hunger pangs. Llew’s tummy had been playing up and he decided to stay very light on the entire trip. I had some snacks in my bag and began munching on Sev-Bhel chikki (from Bombay Sweets Company) before Raju was actually able to find a place for us to stop for breakfast. By then, we had entered Poona and were almost past it, when on its outskirts, we spotted a pure veg Indian restaurant called Shree Krishna. It was as good a place as any other (certainly very clean and pleasant-looking) to stop for breakfast. We treated ourselves to a humongous paper dosa (that the menu told us fed two people) and settled for hot chocolate for me and filter coffee for Llew. It was also a good place to make a pit stop—good clean toilets. Surprisingly, although two of us tried to do justice to the gigantic dosa, we still had the middle portion left behind on our plate when we got up to leave—it was that large!

Drive and Arrival in Aurangabad:

The rest of the journey passed pleasantly enough. We were grateful for air-conditioning in our car as it has already turned rather hot in the Maharashtra hinterland. Once you pass the ghats and leave them behind, the landscape is uniformly stark with just low shrubbery punctuating the fields until the very horizon. Occasionally, we passed by sugarcane fields, but this does not seem to be a vigorously agricultural part of the state. The hours passed by swiftly as we read (I am reading A Tryst with Koki with Subhadra Anand which I am finding very interesting) and listening to music or playing games on our phones, until we reached Aurangabad and the beautiful porch of our hotel, the Welcomgroup Rama International, one of only two five-star hotels in Aurangabad. It was exactly 1.30 pm when we checked in. We told Raju that we would not need him till 4.00 pm as we intended to relax for a little while and take a nap. We were also keen on eating some lunch before napping. Accordingly, we made our way to Madhuban, the 24-hour coffee shop in the spacious lobby of the hotel where I settled for the substantial buffet (making a definite go at the vermicelli kheer which was available for dessert) while Llew stayed light with a salad—big mistake. It would do a number on his tummy and revive the issue which he had been fighting valiantly. We really liked out room which was clean and spacious and it wasn’t long before we tested the comfort of the bed for both of us knocked our footwear off and settled down under the covers of a blissfully cool room. Needless to say, we had a good nap and awoke on schedule at 4.00 pm to begin our sightseeing.

Sightseeing in Aurangabad:

I had once passed through Aurangabad abut 20 years ago and had not really explored the city at all. Now, being better informed, I realize that it is named after the last of the great Moghul emperors, Aurangzeb, who tried hard to expand his Empire into the Deccan but was soundly stopped by the great Maratha chieftain, Shivaji. This explains why Shivaji is such a huge hero in the state of Maharashtra. Aurangzeb’s influence, however, is seen in the vast population of Muslims that was clearly evident, especially as we are right in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan and the streets are filled with vendors and hawkers doing brisk trade in the selling of food. From doing research prior to our departure, I was aware that there are three highlights to be seen in the city and we intended to cover them all this evening as it was the only time we had allocated to seeing the city.

First stop--the Bibi Ka Maqbara:

The Bibi Ka Maqbara (BM) or Wife’s Mausoleum is the most famous monument in Auangabad and its most visited. It was built in the late 17th century by Aurangazeb to house the mortal remains of his first wife, Dilras Banu Begum (also known as Rabia and posthumously as Rabia ud-Daurrani, ie. Rabia of the Deccan). It is important to remember that Aurangzeb was the last and fourteenth child of his father, the great Emperor Shah Jehan, and that his mother Mumtaz (or Nur) died in childbirth while delivering him. She is the reason for the construction of India’s best-known monument, theTaj Mahal, in Agra.

At first glance, to the unstudied eye, the Bibi ka Maqbara looks exactly like the Taj Mahal and it is not uncommon for people to be fooled into thinking they are gazing upon her more glamourous sister. In point of fact, although the design of the BM is very similar to the Taj (as indeed is Humayun’s Tomb in Old Delhi), this is decidedly smaller and bears none of the finesse of artistry or craftsmanship that so distinguishes the Taj. As in the case of the Taj, the visitor buys tickets (Rs. 25 for Indians, Rs. 600 for foreigners) and goes through a significant entrance gate before feasting eyes upon the monument. But whereas the pure white of the marble of the Taj seen against the whiteness of the skies causes the visitor to gasp quite literally, this monument has no such effect. It is built on a marble platform and has the same box design flanked on four sides by minarets—but really this is where the similarity ends. If you walk down the long fountain-laden path (they were not playing) towards the building, you will feel none of the awe that you feel when approaching the Taj.

Still, the BM has much to credit it. It is encased in marble that has allowed to go a dirty cream color for lack of maintenance (or perhaps air pollution). There is the wide expanse of the platform that is quite striking before you enter the mausoleum itself (after taking off your footwear). Inside, the structure is very similar to the Taj. There is the marble jali (marble screen or grill) work that characterizes all great Moghul interiors (they let in light and air—a form of natural air-conditioning) as well as a great amount of ornamentation in the stucco walls. Whereas the Taj has a lot of pietra dura (precious stone inlay in the marble walls), there is none of this decoration here. The ceiling soars above and is decorated in the honeycomb or macarabe style (that we had seen in the Al-Hambra in Granada, Spain) and as you encircle the upper level, you can look down into the pit where there is a marble tomb exactly above the spot in the ground where Rabia is buried. Visitors cannot actually go down to his grave-site, but you can see a vast amount of coins and currency notes thrown into the ‘pit’ down below. The upper level is built, like the Taj, in octagonal shape.

Once we finished exploring the inside of the mausoleum, we circumnavigated the wide platform outside to find access on three sides through a flight of stairs leading from the ground level. The fourth side is not accessible in the same way as a small mosque was later added to it. The mosque is apparently no longer in use as there was gates to prevent anyone from wandering into it. There was beautiful arches throughout the structure that give the mosque a uniformly pretty appearance. There were a lot of local Indian visitors at this site and I was happy to see crowds of people arrive in buses to take in the architectural wonder of this monument. I suppose it is what one might call “a poor man’s Taj Mahal” in every sense of the word. Aurangzeb did not have the vast wealth of his father to spend on this monument and his cut-price monument is certainly evidence of his reduced grandeur. In another sense, if people living closer to Maharashtra than Uttar Pradesh find it cheaper to travel not too far from their base, then this monument is a good alternative to spending far bigger bucks to get to the Taj in Agra.

It took us about an hour to see this place thoroughly and we were ready then to move on to the next stop—the Aurangabad Caves. However, Raju informed us that they close at 5. Pm and since it was already past 5, we had no alternative but to leave ithemout. Instead, Raju suggested we take a look at another manor close by—one that was not even on our itinerary, Soneri Mahal.

Second Stop--A Quick Wander Around Soneri Mahal:

About ten minutes later, we were at a rather deserted part of the city—there were no visitors here at all—probably because this place that houses a small museum also closes at 5.00 Pm. However, the sweet caretaker was kind enough to let us into the museum, but not into the house itself.

Soneri Mahal (literally Golden Palace) was built between 1651 and 1653 by two brothers, Pahad Singh and Juzar Singh who had been dispatched to the Deccan by Aurangzeb as vassals. They wished to show their loyalty to the emperor by building this stately hous.. Later, the Nizam of Hyderabad purchased this structure which is rather plain on the outside. Inside, it’s walls are painted in gilding—which explains its name. This part remained hidden to us, of course, as we arrived too late. We did not find the time or the inclination to return, but we did enjoy the little museum that the attendant sweetly lit up for us to enable us to take in the sight of small artifacts as well as larger remnants of the era in the shape of cannon balls. Like the Taj and the BM, this place too is reached by a long walkway with fountains in the center, has a lovely wall (that still survives) that encircles it and is reached by a flight of stairs that takes you to the main structure. Overall, definitely worth a visit.

Third Stop--Panchakki or the Water Mill:

The next attraction in Aurangabad is a medieval water-mill known as the Panchakki which is attached to a dargah (or mosque) of Baba Shah Musafir. It is said to have been erected by Turktaz Khan, a nobleman on the staff of Nizam Ul-Mulk Asaf Jah in around 1695. There is a large reservoir in front of the mosque and fountains playing all around. This is a huge complex that consists of several buildings, some sacred, some used for more pedestrian administrative purposes. As a water mill, this place was designed to harness water power from a nearby cascading spring to turn wheels that would grind corn or grain. As this was a popular spot of Muslim pilgrimage in the medieval era, this mill ground grain used to feed the pilgrims and later members of the colonial garrisons who made their army base in Aurangabad.

This place is not maintained very well and does not make for a very pleasant visit. There is a large banyan tree that is more than 600 years old having been planted in the 1400s. Its vast branches offer shade in the entire complex. There was a few shops at the front where one can buy some of the region’s hand made treasure such as himroo shawls and paitani sarees. But, otherwise, in my opinion, there is not much to commend this venue.

The Many Gates of Aurangabad:

According to tourist brochures, Aurangabad has about 35 gates or ‘darwazas” (doors), most of which were built during the reign of Aurangzeb. They would probably have marked main entrances or exits from the city or been ceremonial gateways to commemorate great military victories. They bear a similarity of design but in detail each one of them is different. They are known as Delhi Gates (because it faces Delhi), Paithaini Gate, Kala Gate, etc. Most of them are very badly maintained (despite their historicity) and the fact that they are still standing is itself miraculous. Most of them are also in what one would consider the old Muslim quarter of the city. There are no gates in the more modern part of town. The best way to see the gates is to simply drive around the city while remaining sensitive to older lookin 11.00 pm, we were reag structures that are in gateway design. We saw at least six of these gates, but, no doubt, there are several more that can be seen during longer explorations.

Relaxation in our Hotel:

By the time it was about 7.00 pm, and we had concluded our sightseeing of the city as well as our outing for the day. Both of us were ready to return to our room to relax. Since we’d have a late lunch and a very heavy one at that, we decided to forego dinner—we had drinks in our room and nibbled on some snacks we had carried while watching a whole wonderful episode of Vera on You Tube.

By 11.00 pm, after a superb but very sad episode of Vera, I took a shower and we decided to call it a night. Our impressions of Aurangabad were varied. It has a ton of historical monuments and structures dating from Moghul times, but they have not been well looked after and appear in quite a decrepit state. These monuments are in parts of the town that are themselves in poor shape—roads dirty, filled with garage, in crowded, congested segments. Where modern-day Aurangabad is evident, there is a broad, two-carried main road that is filled with more contemporary shops selling every conceivable kind of consumer product. There are also food chains such as KFC and Pizza Hut and a bunch of restaurants. It is easy to see the entire city in a day and we were not sorry that we had not allocated too much time to explore.